Category: Beliefs


Entry #98: What In The World Was This All About?

Filed Under: Beliefs, Stupid Criminals, What-everrr! by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
August 8, 2010

I have wondered aloud in this blog if we were ever going to get along. Every day, I seem to read something that adds doubt that it will ever truly happen.

Take, for instance, what happened on late Friday night/early Saturday morning on the Washington, DC, Metro (subway system). Apparently a huge fight broke out, although no one seems to be reporting why it happened. Here’s the story from the Washington Post:

>>Injuries, arrests after massive 70-person Metro brawl

By Martin Weil

Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, August 7, 2010; 12:46 AM

At least four people were injured and three arrested late Friday night after a brawl in the Metro system involving as many as 70 people, a Metro spokeswoman said.

The brawl apparently began about 11 p.m. at the Gallery Place station and then continued in the L’Enfant Plaza station, according to Metro spokeswoman Cathy Asato.

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Entry #97: What’s Next For Local TV News?

Filed Under: Beliefs, Television/Movies by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
August 7, 2010

As someone who works for a newspaper, I can easily say that “change” is something that the media is facing on an almost daily basis.

However, I wasn’t aware that such major upheaval was in the offing!

Here’s an article about a revolutionary idea one local television station has in mind, from The Daily News:

>>Word that a Houston station is considering anchorless news has folks wondering whether this is the next wave of TV news or just a stunt to draw attention by a station with low ratings.

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Entry #96: Can The Post Office Survive?

Filed Under: Beliefs by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
August 6, 2010

As I count down to entry #100, I came across this important bit of new about the U.S. Postal Service.

I remember when I was growing up, how I couldn’t wait to see what had been delivered at our home after the mail had arrived! But now, with e-mail and FTP sites and the like, most mail is an annoyance, including bills and flyers and things I never asked for. So it doesn’t surprise me that the Post Office is struggling financially.

Below is an article from Reuters on this very subject:

>>WASHINGTON, Aug 5 (Reuters) – The U.S. Postal Service reported a quarterly net loss of $3.5 billion on Thursday and said it will likely have a cash shortfall going into 2011.

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Man Killed At Anti-Violence Event

Filed Under: Beliefs by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
August 5, 2010

You can’t make this stuff up.

During an anti-violence rally, a man was shot and killed in Paterson, New Jersey, recently. Irony, anyone?

Here’s the story from myfoxny.com:

>>A man attending a block party as part of the National Night Out anti-crime initiative was shot and killed in Paterson, N.J.

Police say 39-year-old Robert Godfrey was shot in the head while arguing with another man Tuesday.

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Another City Police Force Drastically Reduced

Filed Under: Beliefs by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
August 3, 2010

Recently I talked about a small town’s squad of police being seriously cut back. Now, it is time for East St. Louis to do the same.

Here’s the story from stltoday.com:

>>Layoffs to gut East St. Louis police force

BY NICHOLAS J.C. PISTOR

EAST ST. LOUIS • The Rev. Joseph Tracy said he’s tired of going to funerals. And now, he suspects he’ll be going to more of them.

“It’s open field day now,” said Tracy, the pastor of Straightway Baptist Church here. “The criminals are going to run wild.”

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Will We Ever Truly Get Along?

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July 29, 2010

I keep hoping that race will stop being an issue in today’s society, but then I read stories like the following from wftv.com:

>>A 14-year-old Palm Bay boy could be charged with a hate crime. Police say he attacked a white man just because he was listening to rap music.

The boy beat up the 22-year-old man because he didn’t think white people should listen to rap music, police said. The man told WFTV he was listening to “Wasted” by Gucci Mane.

David McKnight did not fight back when 14-year-old Joshuah Lamb punched him in the face repeatedly, investigators said. Battery is the only charge Lamb faces, but he could face felony hate crime charges.

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Why Fire Most Of Police Force In A Small Texas Town?

Filed Under: Beliefs by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
July 27, 2010

As the economy continues to worsen, times are getting tougher and tougher for smaller towns. Raising taxes has turned out to be a very unpopular option, so city’s are cutting back on services.

For one town in Texas, that means keeping only two members of their police force to try and keep them safe. Or is it something more political in nature?

Here’s the story from a local news site:

>>City Terminates All But Two in Police Force

By Shane Allen

Nearly every police officer for a small north Texas city was terminated from the payroll during a council meeting Saturday.

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Look, Up In The Sky, It’s … A Parachuting Donkey!

Filed Under: Beliefs, What-everrr! by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
July 22, 2010

Just when you thought you’d seen everything, a story like this on Yahoo comes along:

>>Parachuting donkey shocks Russian beachgoers

MOSCOW (AFP) – – Russian beachgoers got a shock when they saw a donkey soaring in the blue skies over the balmy beaches on the Sea of Azov in southern Russia last week, police said on Tuesday.

Attached to a parachute, the animal screamed in fear as it circled over heads of holidaymakers sunbathing on a beach in the Cossack village of Golubitskaya in the Krasnodar region.

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Stupid Criminals 1: Paying Bail With Counterfeit Bills

Filed Under: Beliefs, Stupid Criminals, What-everrr! by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
July 15, 2010

One of my favorite kinds of stories to read has to do with stupid criminals, folks who seem to have lost all common sense in their attempt to commit crimes. So, this will be the first in this occasional series. (Some day, I’ll go back and review previous Darwin Awards, which are just impossible to make up on our own.)

>>Man posts bail with counterfeit bills

By Peter Mucha, Inquirer Staff Writer

Most people post bail to stay out of jail, not to risk a lot more time there.

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‘Barefoot Bandit’ No Longer A Step Ahead Of The Law

Filed Under: Beliefs by Wayne Hall — Leave a comment
July 12, 2010

AP – Colton Harris-Moore exits a plane handcuffed as he is escorted by police upon arrival to Nassau, Bahamas

I’m always intrigued by criminals who seem to put themselves and others in danger, and yet gain folk hero status somehow. Here’s a good recent case as reported by Yahoo:

>>NASSAU, Bahamas – For two years he stayed a step ahead of the law—stealing cars, powerboats and even airplanes, police say, while building a reputation as a 21st-century folk hero. On Sunday, Colton Harris-Moore’s celebrity became his downfall.

Witnesses on the Bahamian island of Eleuthera recognized the 19-year-old dubbed the “Barefoot Bandit” and called police, who captured him after a high-speed boat chase, Bahamas Police Commissioner Ellison Greenslade said at a celebratory news conference in Nassau, the capital.

Greenslade said shots were fired during the water chase but he did not say who fired them. He also said Harris-Moore was carrying a handgun that he tried to throw away.

Another senior police official, however, said police fired to disable the motor on the suspect’s stolen boat, and that Harris-Moore threw his gun in the water. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case, also said that police recovered a laptop and a GPS locator from the suspect.

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